Grumpy Cave Bear

Magical-level ability? I’d choose the theremin, that staple of 50’s sci-fi movies such as Forbidden Planet. It’s possibly the most difficult instrument I can imagine to play well — it requires precise, steady hand positioning and near-constant tuning. I recently watched a YouTube video featuring musician Carolina Eyck playing the theremin, and was singularly impressed that such a level of music was possible with such a setup.

Clean!

Lawn care and gardening. It’s always there to do and getting worse, and I dread getting started, but I always love how I feel afterwards, a bit tired but with the sense of accomplishing something substantial and physical, which is a rare enough feeling for a software engineer. How about true cybernetics and trans-humanity? I’d love the idea of expanding my intellect with cybernetic implants, making backups of my mind and downloading my consciousness into new bodies. Ha, I think it was the science classes and experiments that got me into into the tinkering mindset, which has always given me the encouragement that I can always do it myself, if I just learn how... I still remember that project to build an electric motor using just enameled wire and nails. I remember others made motors that spun around lazily, where mine ran so fast the rotor flew off its mount! Sitting on the couch, listening to my loved one snore on my shoulder. If I did, I still wouldn’t tell anyone that I did...

Augh! Is it that time already?!? Thanks all for the birthday wishes! I won’t tell you my age, but I’ll give you a hint: It’s divisible by 5... ...and 11.

With my supposed handyman skills, I always try to fix it. I only replace it after I’ve broken it worse.

There’s a section at the end of the sock drawer where the singletons sit; if you wait long enough, their mate usually shows up, often under the bed or tangled in some other laundry. And if it doesn’t and my collection of rags runs low, the stragglers get cut up... The lucky socks get matched up with an identical pair which also has one missing.

Take out! Today it was pizza!

Prep and assembly. There’s something I love about removing mold lines, filling gaps and air bubbles, sanding smoothing rough surfaces, re-sculpting damaged/missing details, pinning and gluing parts, and generally getting the model to a primed and ready to paint state. Sadly, my shelf of shame reflects this preference. It’s like an artist that only likes prepping a blank canvas for painting.

I got out of whatever malaise I had last year, and got past my procrastination and creative funk! I watch comfort movies — any fun or lighthearted movie from my shelf that I can rewatch and forget anything that bothers me. Or I’ll play a casual video game, like Minecraft or Slime Rancher.

My parents taught me to drive. My most vivid memory of the event is driving down the freeway with my mother in the passenger seat, gripping her armrests in terror and repeatedly shouting: “Slow down! Slow down! Slow down!” What the hell, Mom? I’m driving the speed limit! Oh, we’re coming up on a slow-moving motorcycle...

Of all weird things, I’m missing Famous Dave’s barbecue. I don’t normally go to their restaurants, but our company occasionally orders take-out from them for luncheons for visiting guests, and that’s just not happening with our state’s stay-at-home order...

I haven’t had a pet since I was a boy, and haven’t gone on a road trip since I was in college. Married life can do that to you.

Right now, I am wearing a dark gray sweatshirt over dark gray sweatpants. I’m totally rocking the “Batman at home” look.

Okay, I finished one goal, and May hasn’t even started yet: Pale Saffron over Pure White and over over Rosy Pink: It’s hard to tell in the photo, but in person, the yellow over pink has more warmth and body, where the yellow over white is a bit flat and lifeless. When I try this for real on a model, I’ll try a lighter pink with a little less blue in it, so I don’t have to use so many coats to cover the base.

April was an odd month — nothing really changed from beginning to end. Projects that were started long before the month began were still going on at the month’s end. No activities or going out to punctuate the days or weeks. It felt to me like “the month that was on hold”. The only thing of note that happened was the passing of an distant in-law who had long been a thorn in my side. If I was to pick one thing that was positive, it would be that my immediate family actually grew closer together, being stuck together in the house for pretty much the entire day, days on end!

Hmm... Finish painting a Khanjira Paint an AT-ST Start painting a Star Wars: Legion core box set Paint a resin garage kit Paint my first metal mini of any kind Try this “paint yellow over a pink base” thing Paint for my own collection

Who knew that he was a space captain, too? ...And had an interplanetary counterpart?

I pick up my tablet and start reading, which exacerbates the problem, or I put on headphones and listen to a podcast while lying in bed. I almost always wake up with the headphones on the floor and about the first ten minutes of the podcast in my memory. That elfin’ woodpecker has been rattling on our metal gutters this spring! Off and on for about 3-4 weeks. Haven’t heard from him in about a week though, so maybe he finally found a mate.

An annoying sliding block puzzle... with no solution!!!

Heh. I never said I didn’t own recasts, it’s just personal experience that soured me on them. I picked up several recasts in the early 90’s when I first got into the hobby, some from a shop when I visited Taiwan, some mail-order in the U.S., and only learned they were recasts after I learned more of the hobby. What a struggle they were to assemble! My penance for buying early 90’s recasts was having to build and paint early 90’s recasts. That tradition of punishing yourself with recasts continues today, especially if you buy the stuff made in Thailand and sold on eBay, which I hear literally crumbles in your hands. @Auberon, if you’re serious about it, I think the future of large scale figure modeling is in 3D printing.

Sharpen it and use it to draw a picture. I love to do pencil sketches!

The last time we tried something like that, they snuck around behind us and killed and ate our pack mule. However, they do seem to prefer fish, so I’d instead suggest fish cakes laced with strong narcotics. Make sure the box has no air holes — we don’t want our prisoner shouting through them and alerting the rest of his tribe.

I’ve heard a very convincing argument that Snowpiercer is actually an unofficial sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The connections to the Roald Dahl book are just a bit more apparent in the graphic novel that the movie is adapted from.

Yes. I have a modestly large collection of 1:8 and 1:6 scale sci-fi and anime figures in vinyl and resin, mostly dating from the early 90’s to early 10’s. I also have several O-scale model trains, trolleys and buildings, which are 1:48 (32mm). That doesn’t count the two or three 18”-24” ball joint dolls I have assembled and painted for my wife. It doesn’t matter what the question is, there’s no way I’m going to even try to get it back. They’re Tucker’s kobolds.

He never taught me how to create a phylactery. Until I can learn their construction and make one for my own life force, I am still mortal and therefore vulnerable. Once I do, I can finally be free of his geas, for I have discerned the location of my master’s philactory, and that of all the twelve counterfeits he has scattered throughout his domain.